Juice WRLD Coming To The Oakdale

Juice Wrld, one of hip-hop's biggest new artists, comes to the Oakdale on Sept. 13.

Juice Wrld, one of hip-hop's biggest new artists, comes to the Oakdale on Sept. 13. (Charles Sykes | AP)

JOHN ADAMIANSpecial to The Courant

You may have heard Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams,” off of his 2018 record “Goodbye & Good Riddance.” It’s a bit of woozy complaint rap with as much in common with the self-pitying music of Morrissey as it has with Public Enemy. Mixed emotions, bitter resentment and jealousy are the overriding sentiments. There’s also a subtheme of pill-popping.

The Chicago rapper is only 19, but he’s having to balance his self-destructive side with his ambition. One worries about Juice WRLD’s health and his capacity for self-harm. “We doin’ drugs ‘til we in a coma,” he sings on the bleak “End of the Road.” His new singles “Legends” and “Rich and Blind” pay tribute to (and lament the deaths of) recently deceased young rappers XXXTentacion and Lil Peep. Juice WRLD started out posting his music on SoundCloud and before long he had a purported multi-million-dollar deal with Interscope.